Everyone was stuck somewhere in 2020 and many were/are stranded somewhere in 2021 as well. I was talking to Gwyne the other day and she was asking what my plans were for my first leave and I said, “Completely unknown.” And they are. I’m in Iraq and everything changes every day. Everything. We have people stuck in India and Nepal. The Philippines won’t let their citizens travel to Iraq. They can leave Iraq to go to the Philippines, but they can’t come back here to work. But President Duterte will fix things. In a televised address he said, “You choose, vaccine or I will have you jailed.” No, really, he said that. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-duterte-threatens-those-who-refuse-covid-19-vaccine-with-jail-2021-06-21/ Dubai opened to Indians and Sri Lankans who were fully vaccinated. Then they shut down a week later. South Africa just went down into a Level 4 lockdown. The South Africans are rushing to get back before we don’t have any flights from Erbil to Balad for nobody knows how long. Yeah, that happens too. No flights in or out. Sydney locked down again. Bangkok locked down construction camps. The Delta variant is rampant in India. And the Delta plus variant is spreading as well. So those travel plans? They’re stuck in a holding pattern.
And that’s okay. After working in Afghanistan, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, my schedule here is a rather luxurious 6 days a week and a mere 10 hours a day, which always seem to fly by. What to do on that day off? Well, it’s still a bit warm outside,
so I try to move from one temperature controlled location to the next, typically my ice cold CHU to the DFAC and back. I get a nap in, if I can. I stop in at the only convenience store on base to see if they can extort a few more dinars out of me. Spoiler alert: they’re usually successful. I bought a bike there last week and on the third day or riding my (not so) trusty steed, the seat stem bent. I guess it couldn’t handle my 160 lbs of solid dad bod. No matter, another seat stem was miraculously fabricated the same day. Some wasta helped with that.
Because of the ever changing nature of being here, the work is super interesting. They asked me to get an Iraqi cell today, even though I have VoIP phones with the same number in my office and CHU, a radio and my own cell. I’m pretty reachable. But okay. So they deliver it and I ask what the phone number is. Oh, you have to get a SIM with minutes on it, put in a service order. Again, okay. Then Mohammed calls. He wants to know what service provider I want with my minutes. I have no clue, so I say, “I’m going to make this Mohammed’s choice. You choose. Whatever provider you give me, I’ll be happy with.” He was briefly flummoxed, but then suggested the provider that most managers go with. “Excellent choice, Mohammed, thank you so much!” No reason we can’t have fun here.
Another thing I found out is that every time you come into country, you have to get a blood stamp. They draw blood, check for HIV and Hepatitis, then you get that literal stamp in your passport. Unless. Unless you are over 50 if you are female and over 60 if male. I guess they think that shop has closed up for us elderly folk. And stop. Get that image out of your heads.
Then there are the people. As anyone who has done time (and I use that term intentionally) in the sandbox can attest, some of the people are pretty darn interesting. I won’t delve into the usual and very predictable cast of colorful characters who have been contracting forever, I just want to say the the HR team here is filled with some superstars. Interesting. Educated. Well traveled. Some with a wry and sly sense of humor, all of which is very much appreciated by me.
And there we are. No itinerary. Not taking off. No landings in sight. Anticipating more than a little turbulence. And except for Syed and Kuldeep…still smiling.
No comments:
Post a Comment